Type 5: Long plano-convex

Type 5 combs are distinguished by their considerable length (complete examples are generally over 180mm from end to end; see Tempel 1969, 92), and by their use of connecting plates of plano-convex profile and shallow plano-convex section. The group includes combs conventionally referred to as Ambrosiani 'A' combs (dated to between c. AD 800 and 950, Ambrosiani 1981, 25, 62-3), but also incorporates a number of closely related variants, including pre-Viking (c. 8th- to 9th century) antecedents (or Vorformen, see Tempel 1969, 75-91) and the over-sized and often monumentally ornate 'horse combs' (see Ambrosiani 1981, 68-9). While it would be possible to divide the material further according to a number of subjective aesthetic or distributional criteria, and thus allocate these forms their own subtypes, such a temptation is resisted here, until such time as the statistical basis for any such division might be demonstrated.